The Daily Times. SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1922. BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 June 1922, Page 4

The Daily Times. SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1922. BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

The annual report of the chairman of the Bank of New Zealand, which we publish elsewhere, is a matter of more than ordinary interest to the inhabitants of the Dominion. It is probably no exaggeration to say that, next to the Financial Statement of the Government, the report of the Bank of New Zealand is the most carefully considered utterance delivered in this country, and that it has obtained this proud position is largely due to the breadth of judgment and forceful character of the late ehairman (Mr. H. Beauchamp). Time was when the Bank was too much occupied with its individual troubles to permit its chairman doing much more than review the work accomplished towards removing these. 'Then came the years of prosperity, and with - them the Bank’s position materially altered, until it can to-day claim that it stands in the happy position of combining some at least of the more valuable results of a State-owned bank with the acumen and freedom from restraint that private enterprise alone ensures. The present report is particularly interesting. Not only is it the first report of the new chairman (Mr. G. Elliot), but it also shows the manner in which the Bank has stood the test of the very sharp reversal of the prosperous years it has known for at least two decades. How excellently it has stood this test, the profits referred to by the chairman bear eloquent witness! Speaking in reference to the moratorium legislation, howe,ver, Mr. Elliot remarked :

It has been stated that the moratorium covered bank deposits, hut this was not the ease- There -was no necessity for the banks to seek legislative assistance in this direction. That the chairman of the Bank of New Zealand should have found it necessary to necessary to assure its shareholders that the Bank had not lost sight of what is, after all, its primary duty to its depositors, viz., to keep sufficient cash and other reserves to absolutely safeguard their interests, shows how severe the crisis has been, and to'what extent it was believed possible that special legislation should .apply. The Bank can congratulate its shareholders upon the very satisfattory profit made in the past year. The chairman’s report gives what he no doubt considers very cogent reasons for the high rate of interest upon overdrafts, and against the establishment of a State Bank, though upon these points there will he certainly other opinions tha his. For the future Mr. Elliot is scarcely so optimistic as the Prime Minister. Mr. Massey thinks we have “ turned the corner.” and while the chairman of the Bank thinks ibere may be even worse times ahead in the next few months, he sounds a note of hope fqr a gradual improvement setting in towards the end of the year. Both, however, agree that the depression is only temnorarv. and hard work —which it has been the custom lately to call, more genteelly, “ increased production is the only remedy. With this all sections of the community will agree.